


The Oracle Saga

by deathmarkedlove_archivist



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-01-29
Updated: 2007-01-29
Packaged: 2018-12-06 00:22:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 19,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11589183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deathmarkedlove_archivist/pseuds/deathmarkedlove_archivist
Summary: The Powers That Be entrust something very precious to Buffy. As she tries to deal with her new role she finds comfort with Spike. PG. There are 7 parts to this.





	1. Revelations, Part One

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Hils, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Death-Marked Love](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Death-Marked_Love). To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [the Death-Marked Love collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/deathmarkedlove/profile).
> 
> Disclaimer: All characters belong to the almighty J.W.   
> I love to play with time so these assumptions have been made:  
> 1\. I Will Remember You took place 9 weeks before the start of these stories  
> 2\. Fool For Love took place 5 weeks ago  
> 3\. Riley didn't make it through his surgery 3 weeks ago.  
> 4\. Dawn and Glory are around.  
> 5\. Buffy is home from school. But her mom is fine now.   
> Enjoy!

Early January, Early Morning, Buffy's room

Buffy awoke from another dream that she couldn't remember. And promptly ran to the bathroom and threw up. Three weeks. Three weeks since Riley died. She still remembered when the Initiative doctor told her that he didn't make it. That they didn't get to him in time. That his heart simply failed.

She was upset. She had cried. But in the end, she was relieved. She knew that if he was no longer strong enough to fight along side her, then he would be a liability. She would constantly have to protect him and that would deter her from her job.

She threw up again and groaned inward. It was nothing but bile. She hadn't eaten anything last night or this morning. She opened the medicine cabinet in the bathroom that she and Dawn shared. On the top shelf, behind all of her cold remedies, was the pregnancy test she bought a week ago. She had been sick since Riley's funeral, but she just thought that it was nerves or grief.

Two Minutes Later

Buffy looked at the little white stick in her hand. At the plus sign at the end. /.....bad stick...../ She thought to herself. /.....very bad stick...../

Riley had always been Mr-Prepared-For-Everything. This was impossible. She couldn't be pregnant. The Slayer could _not_ be pregnant.

She had a job to do. She briefly imagined herself in a maternity wear tank top trying to fight a demon. The demon not reaching out for her face to punch, or her legs to trip, but to her stomach to extract. What a horrible thought!

She took the stick with her back to her room and laid it on her side table. She flopped face down onto the bed and cried.

At The Magic Box, Later that Day

"Anya, could you please stop reading the books instead of coding them for shelving?" Giles asked in a pleading, yet condescending tone.

Anya held up the book that she was engrossed in and said, "I gave him these visions. He decided to take up the scholarly pursuits instead of the orgasm pursuits and his girlfriend called me."

Giles rolled his eyes and turned to look at the cover of the book she was holding. "The Prophecies of Nostradamus".

Willow looked to Anya, impressed. "You gave him the visions?"

"She wanted him to be accused of sorcery and have him burned at the stake, but he was really good at hiding his new talent from the locals. So I just left him that way."

She opened the book and flipped through it idly.

"--She the chosen one  
Joined with the soulful demon  
The fates are returned;  
\--He will do battle  
Another will take his place  
Patience for the three.--"

  
The others looked up sharply at the first line, knowing that it was about Buffy. And most likely Angel. They looked at each other quizzically as Anya finished.

Buffy walked through the front door and seeing no customers, flopped into a chair at the table where everyone was sitting.

"I'm pregnant."

Willow went over to her friend and gave her a hug. "Riley...?"

Buffy nodded her head and broke into sobs. She didn't want to be pregnant. She didn't want to know that she wasn't going to be able to slay, and if she tried she and the baby would be killed. But this was all she had left of Riley. What could she do?

After she calmed down, she looked up at Giles who had still said nothing. "What will I do Giles?"

"Buffy, I don't know. Never in the histories has a Slayer been pregnant or a mother. I'll have to go through them again."

Xander spoke up. "What about the prophesy?"

They all shot him sharp looks and looked back at Buffy. "What prophesy?" she asked.

Reluctantly, Tara took the book from Anya's lap and handed it to Buffy.

Buffy looked up, stricken. What could this mean? She and Angel....? But that was completely impossible. She would remember! She would never forget that!

And as far as she knew, Cordelia hadn't called in a panic saying that Angelus had returned, so now what?

Buffy left the Magic Box and her friends staring stunned after her.

Angel Investigations

"I got us another case!" Cordelia announced, very proud of herself.

Wesley rolled his eyes and asked "Divorce or supernatural?"

The door banged open and Buffy appeared in the entryway.

"Geez, Buffy, don't you know how to knock?" Cordelia asked blithely.

"Is Angel here?" she asked curtly.

"Right here." he said appearing at the bottom of the wide sweeping stairs. He looked at Cordelia and Wesley and raised his eyebrows.

"And we were just going out to meet Gunn. Right, Wesley?" She asked and dragged the ex-Watcher with her out the door.

Angel gestured to the large assortment of big comfortable furniture. "Make yourself comfortable. What's wrong?"

"Riley's dead."

Angel couldn't help a small smile from escaping. He never liked that guy. But he put that aside for Buffy's sake. "Are you alright?" he asked gently.

"I'm fine. But there's more. Angel, I-I'm pregnant, and I have reason to believe that it's not Riley's."

Angel leaned back. "How do you know?"

Buffy handed him the book that she took with her from Sunnydale. It opened to a page that was obviously well read.

Many emotions crossed his face as Buffy watched. But she didn't know the thoughts behind the eyes. The Oracles had said that no one but him would remember that day. And they hadn't exactly been careful. But, they had turned back the day. Nothing that happened, happened. But now the Oracles were dead and he couldn't even ask. All he could do now was explain what happened to Buffy and hope that she would remember, and if she couldn't, that she would understand.

Later That Evening

Tears rolled down Buffy's face as he recounted their last seconds together that day. She remembered going up to LA to yell at him for interfering, even though he had saved her life. She remembered the Mohra (sp?) demon attacking and Angel killing it immediately. . But as Angel was recounting the most shared intimacies of the day, she would get a flash or two of memory. But try as she might, she couldn't remember the whole day.

"So, this baby, is yours?" she asked between hitched breaths. He nodded. "But, you're not human anymore. You gave that back and we still can't be together."

He nodded again. "It was for the best Buffy. You and I both know that."

She nodded tearfully and fell against him in a fierce hug. They stayed like that for a while. She crying into his chest and he stroking her hair thoughtfully. She turned up to look into his eyes and he smiled at her. She knew that everything would be ok.

He moved his hand down to her lower stomach and rested it there. But only for a second before he jerked it back.

"What's wrong?" Buffy asked, scared.

Angel put his finger to his lips, and leaned down with his ear against her still flat stomach. He leaned up again and smiled. "There are two of them in there."

Buffy looked down at herself, awed. "Why don't you ask the Oracles about this?" she asked."There must be some reason why they allowed us to keep this part of the day." she gestured to her lower abdomen.

Angel's face darkened as he said. "I can't. They're dead.A couple of weeks after that day, I went to ask them a question and found them lying in pools of their own blood, murdered. Their ghosts remained and the female told me that she didn't like being dead. She gave me a brief answer because she no longer had the strength to stay to answer any more questions." He paused. "Buffy! Show me that prophesy again?"

The book was laid on the table in front of them, still open to the page. She lifted it up and into both of their laps. "The fates are returned....Could it be?"

Buffy frowned and asked "What are you talking about?"

"Buffy, the Oracles are dead, but somehow they allowed us to keep our children. I think that they will be reincarnations of the Oracles."

Buffy shook her head. Too much, it was all too much. "What will we do?"

"Well, no matter what, they have to be protected. But, you and I both know that we can't be together." Buffy nodded. "I will stay here in L.A., but I want to hear progress and details from every time you go to the doctor!"

Buffy nodded again, this time smiling. She didn't want to be apart from Angel, but at least he wanted to be a part of her life and their childrens'. It would have to be enough. She got up to leave and Angel walked her to the door. They hugged again and she was gone.

Angel walked over to the phone and began to dial.

Sunnydale Cemetary, Before Dawn

She walked through the cemetary, stealthily. There was still enough time to patrol before sunrise. Mr Pointy was perfect in her grip and she knew that she heard a sound coming from behind a monument. She snuck around and peeked to see Spike sitting facing eastward, with a half full bottle of gin next to him.

"Spike what are you doing? Trying to get yourself killed?" Buffy hauled him to his feet roughly.

"What do you care, Slayer? Nobody wants me around, including you." He looked at her pathetically and she could hear the slight slur in his voice. He noticed the stake in her hand and opened his coat and shirt to reveal his well muscled chest. "Here's your shot Slayer. Kill me. Now."

"Spike, shut up. I don't want to kill you."

"But you don't like me. I'm beneath you. You can't even pity me because I'm so bloody pitiful."

Buffy sighed as she began helping him back to his crypt. He was so drunk he'd probably not remember this in the evening.

"Spike, I don't hate you. I actually consider you my friend. With that chip in your head you can't hurt anyone including me. But, you've helped me even when you could've sat back and watched me die. Is it ok if we're friends?"

"But, I don't want to be just your friend."

Buffy turned her head and made a face. "Do you remember when Willow cast that spell on the two of us?" He nodded as she tucked him into his sofa. "Do you really want to be like that again?"

He shook his head and stuck out his tongue. "Blechhh."

"Right. Get some rest, Spike."

She looked at him as he closed his eyes and began to rest. Through the barred window, she could see the first rays of morning coming through. Just in time. She kissed him on the forehead as he slept and got up to go. As she reached the door, he called out to her. "Slayer!"

She turned to see him with his eyes open and smiling at her. "Congratulations to the two of you."

She smiled wryly at him and closed the door behind her.


	2. Revelations, Part Two

The Magic Box   
Buffy walked into Giles' magic shop after putting Spike to bed to find that everyone was still assembled there, wearing the same clothes as last night with the addition of one more.

"Hey B." The chestnut beauty smiled wistfully at Buffy and clasped her hands in front of her.

"Faith."

Even though Faith had admitted that she had a problem, even though Faith had turned herself in, even though, as hard as it was, Buffy had managed to accept if not forgive her actions, it was difficult for her to say the other Slayer's name without a touch of loathing.

Faith flinched a little bit and stepped back. "What, no hug?" she joked.

Buffy looked to her friends, whose faces reflected the range of emotions from hope, to concern to what she hoped wasn't on her face. "What is she doing here?"

Giles spoke up, "Angel called, Buffy. He explained everything."

So that's how Spike knew, Buffy thought to herself. "But that doesn't explain why Faith isn't still in jail."

Willow smiled, "Faith _is_ in jail Buffy. Or, at least her guards think so." Buffy looked puzzled so she continued, "Angel thought that you might not be able to fulfill your Slayer duties in a few months - "

"If the Miss Slayer of the Century is unable to fulfill her duties during her reign--" Xander piped up.

Willow continued again after a small curve of her lips in Xander's direction. "We did a little research and me and Tara did a little witchiness, and summoned a friendly doppelganger to take Faith's place in jail until you're due. When are you due by the way?"

"A what?" Buffy asked, still a little confused.

"You know a demon that can take on form and function of any living thing? We summoned a friendly one so that Faith can do the Slayer stuff. The doppelganger is in jail and Faith is here." Willow concluded as she clasped Tara's hand.

Tara smiled at Buffy slightly, and looked away again.

Faith looked at Buffy with such a look of hope. "Let me do this for you, B. It's the least I could do, and as soon as those two are born, I'll go back, I promise. So, how long am I paroled, by the way?" she asked shyly.

Buffy didn't know what to think. She was seething at the fact that they had released Faith without even telling her. She was angry that Angel hadn't told her that this is what he meant by protection. Well she couldn't slay when she was as big as a whale after all. Angel. He had an affect on Faith. She almost believed her. Buffy decided to give her a chance. "Faith - I - Thank you."

Faith smiled and put her hands behind her back and said, "Thanks B. I won't let you down again."

You better not, Buffy thought to herself. Buffy did her best to put on a cheerier face and said idly. "Actually, I don't know when I'm due. I probably have to go to the doctor and -- Oh my God! I haven't told my mother!" Buffy covered her mouth in shock. "I have to go!"

Buffy's House

Buffy walked into her kitchen and went to the fridge and stared at the contents. She selected a bottle of water waved at Dawn who was on her way to the shower.

"Oh, Buffy, good you're home. I have to go to the gallery before the big show tonight and since I've been out for the past few weeks, I need to make sure everything is ok. I need you to stay here with Dawn." Joyce Summers breezed through the kitchen. "There's some lasagna in the fridge, you just need to heat it up--"

"Mom, I'm pregnant."

"Oh good. Make sure that Dawn doesn't-- You're what?"

Buffy toyed with her water, looked down. She reached into her pocket and showed her mother the white stick. The plus sign had faded since yesterday morning, but it was still visible. Joyce took it from her, sat down and peered at it as if it were a fascinating specimen. She frowned and began "Buffy--"

Buffy huffed and gently brought her head down on the table. "Mom. I know, but this is different." She peeked up from behind her arms.

Joyce folded her arms and leaned back from the table and raised her eyebrows. It took about an hour and a little censorship but Buffy relayed the story about the lost day, the Oracles, The Powers That Be and the prophecy.

Joyce sighed and reached out her hand to take Buffy's. "Oh honey....Sometimes I wish I knew who called on you to do this job so I could tell them to stop interfering with your life."

"So you're ok with this?" Buffy asked in a small voice.

"As ok as I can be with becoming a grandmother at forty-three." Joyce laughed.

Dawn peeked her head around the doorjamb and looked from her mother to her sister. Buffy was always doing stuff that made their mother pay more attention to her. "Grandmother?" she asked timidly.

Buffy got up and hugged her little sister, who she knew wasn't really. "Oh, Dawn. I was going to tell you next. You're going to be an aunt." Buffy held her out at arms length to gage her reaction. Surprise, then smugness, then a true smile and another hug.

"Was it Riley?" she asked and then wished she didn't. Buffy's face fell and she looked away.

"No, Dawn. It's really complicated, but the twins are Angel's."

"Twins? Angel?" Dawn hugged her sister again, really happy. "I really liked Angel. He didn't talk to me as much, but he was so much cooler than Riley."

Buffy looked at her mother over Dawn's shoulder, and cast her glance skyward.

Dr. Everhart's Office

"Well, Buffy, despite the fact that you haven't visited me since you moved to Sunnydale, and even though you've had numerous visits to the emergency room, I'm pleased to say that you are in the best of health."

Buffy laughed inwardly. She played with the strings of the dressing gown and asked "And the babies?"

Dr. Everhart looked up from her chart and said "How did you know--Well never mind, they're doing really well too. Two very strong heartbeats. Judging from what you told me and the presence of the heartbeats, you are about nine weeks along. If it were only one, you would be due in July. But twins are usually early, and you're in excellent health, so we're going to see if we can hold out for June."

Later that evening

Buffy retched behind a tombstone as she did her nightly patrol through the cemetery. Morning sickness, she groaned. It's not supposed to last all day! They don't call it _evening_ sickness. Nothing she ate would stay down. She would have to try out those mega vitamins Dr. Everhart gave her tomorrow. Maybe then it would have a chance to stay put. She retched again, this time hearing some rustling in the bushes. Concluding that it was not the occupant of the grave, she pulled herself into a fighting stance.

Eight vampires jumped at her from all directions, and as she fought them, she fought the urge to throw up again.

The fight moved across the cemetery, with her backpedaling as she fought. She only dusted three out of the eight and she was starting to break a sweat.

The door to a mausoleum banged open and a voice thundered, "What the bloody hell is goin' on out 'ere? Tabitha was about to sacrifice that editor to the demons in the basement!"

Spike had woken up after sundown with a splitting headache, that for once wasn't caused by that bleedin' chip in his head. After an hour or so of searching the telly for something good, he saw the light on his VCR blinking. So he had remembered to set the timer for Passions. As he placed his black laquered fingertips to his forehead in an attempt to soothe out the pain, he remembered. Slayer - Buffy brought him in last night, before he could do himself in. And she had kissed him right there. That thought brought the throbbing in his head to a slightly more tolerable level. The tape rewound, he sat down to watch just as the noises outside began.

Spike looked around and saw Buffy surrounded. The fight had gone on for a while, and it usually didn't take her so long to deal with a few of his brethren. Itching to fight, and to be near her again, Spike jumped into the fray.

They worked together to fight the remaining vampires. Spike put on his game face and went to town, relishing the ability to inflict pain, even if it was on his fellow vampires. As the last one sifted into a pile of ash in front of her, Buffy collapsed.

"Buffy!" Spike's human features returned and he rushed over to her and held her wrist tenderly. He never noticed how small she really was compared to him or any of the other demons she had faced over the years. Good, her pulse was still there, but faintly. Gently, he scooped her up and carried her into his crypt.

Once inside, he laid her down on his couch as she had laid him there the night before. He sat on his table watching her until her eyes fluttered open. "Spike," she whispered weakly, and then quickly turned her head to the floor and retched. This time nothing came out at all.

"Didn't know I quite had that affect on you Slayer." he said, grinning madly, helping her to sit up a bit.

She frowned at him and said, "I thought you knew."

"About Angel's real children? I can hear their hearts from here. I stopped by the herbal chop shop last night and Red told me all about it."

Buffy looked down at her hands. Spike stopped grinning and noticed that Buffy had begun to cry. "Oh, hey there, love, there's no need for that."

He gave her a hug which she returned ferociously. She mastered her sobs and broken bits of speech came out in between them. "We can't be--....Angel.... and I--...Powers That--...Too much...It's all too much....."

She pulled away and her tears began to subside. Spike's face was just inches from hers. She looked into his eyes, smiled a little and turned away. "The worst part is, my mom makes the best lasagna in the world and the only one who knows it right now is the ground. Nothing that I eat stays in."

Spike got up quickly, and shook off the the eager puppy dog look on his face that had once charcterized William the Bloody Awful Poet and said. "Well we can't have that, love. I know just the thing. Let me get you something to eat."

With that, he extended his pale arm to her and she clasped his hand in return and they left the crypt together.


	3. Revelations, Part Three

Glory was careful when she stomped her foot in indignation this time. She wasn't in the mood to have a whole building come down on her this time. Or ruining her next best pair of heels.   
"What do you mean she got away? You told me she was patrolling alone for a change."

The fledgling vampire cowered on the floor where she had thrown him. "I'm sorry boss, I-I d-didn't know-Spike was there."

He got up and backed away as she began to stalk towards him. "Why should I care about that infant? I sent you to capture the Slayer and bring her here! She knows where the Key is and I mean to have it!"

"Yes, boss, sorry, boss," he panted, covering his head and cornered against the wall she had punched in when he returned without the others or the Slayer.

He didn't notice the wooden boards sticking out of the wall as he tried to disappear into it. She made a sharp move as if she was going to hit him and he flinched back too quickly to get out of the way. All that remained was a pile of ash.

Glory rolled her eyes and flopped down in the large and comfortable recliner that sat in the foyer of the mansion. She tapped her perfectly manicured nails on the wooden table next to her and tried to figure out what she was missing. The stupid monk had to die before he could tell her where the Key was. But, she knew that the Slayer had to have it. Who else could protect something so powerful?

She decided that she needed a better plan and more competent lackeys.

2 a.m., Downtown Sunnydale

Buffy and Spike walked, still hand in hand, down the main street which was lined with all sorts of all night stores. Videos, coffee and most importantly, restaurants that would serve what he had promised her, food.

The silence to the restaurant from the cemetery was companionable. Spike had refused to let go of her hand until they slid into the booth across from each other. Buffy looked around the diner, to see that it was almost deserted. A couple of lone diners were sitting on stools at the counter, not looking at each other or anything at all except their food. Buffy picked up the menu, and was suddenly ravenous.

A grim looking waitress came by the table a couple of minutes later and asked what they would be having. Spike ordered some coffee and the waitress looked at Buffy.

"I'll have the cheeseburger duo, can I have some extra pickles please? Cheese fries with gravy, mozzarella sticks and a strawberry milkshake." The waitress raised her eyebrows, still jotting everything down and walked back to the kitchen to place the order.

Spike's eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "Bloody hell, Slayer!"

"Well I'm eating for three now right?" Buffy quipped.

Angel Investigations

She raised her leg in a kick that was meant to send her opponent flying. He only caught it and pushed her back, sending her to the ground. She got up with a screech and in a rage of flying arms ran at him. He wasn't prepared for the onslaught and a few punches connected with face and chest. Behind his arms blocking her motions, he studied her attack. He thought it was a little crude. Arm after arm, he began blocking her blow for blow and she let out a frustrated cry, backed up and grabbed for the first weapon she could find. She jumped to higher ground to strike at a better angle.

Angel was rather surprised to find a pillow coming down squarely on top of his head.

Wesley called out. "That's enough, Faith."

She turned to him, hiding a giggle. He looked at her sternly. It had been very hard to accept Faith as not the psycho who had almost tortured him to death. Seeing her that rainy night all those months ago, and then hearing that she had turned herself into the police had still not lessened his inner feeling of hate and disappointment, in himself. He had failed as a Watcher and his Slayer had been nothing but homicidal sociopath. Now, as she had been called on to take on Buffy's duties in the months to come, in the little time she had been with him again, he saw that the time she had spent in jail had calmed her and allowed her to deal with if not conquer most of her inner demons. It hadn't been his fault.

"You still have the strength and the power, you've been working out?" Faith nodded and he continued, "But you must learn to fight without letting your emotions cloud your judgment. If you are frustrated it will show in your actions and you can't afford to be sloppy. That should be enough for tonight. Thank you, Angel."

Faith nodded at Wesley's statement, still holding the pillow behind her back. Angel deftly snatched it out of her hands and threatened her with it teasingly before throwing it back onto the couch and going up to his room. Faith went up the opposite stairway in search of a room of her own.

Cordelia raised her eyebrows and looked at Wesley. "Are you sure about this?"

"As certain as I will ever will be when it concerns Faith. I was her Watcher, and if she is going to be out and doing what she was chosen for, I must help her."

Cordelia shook her head and said "I still can't believe that Buffy is pregnant. And that the babies are Angel's. Explain to me again-" She broke off with an indrawn hiss of air and closed her eyes. Strange visions came to her, as they always did, but these were even stranger. In the flashes that the visions afforded her, she saw Angel walking in sunlight, chowing down on ice cream, her own apprehensive reaction to his change, the last seconds before time was reversed, the death of the Oracles at the hands of the demon who had intensified her visions so much that she had to be in the hospital, a rush of outer space and ending in seeing Buffy with a banquet in front of her as Spike sat across from her, amazed.

"Phew, for once, The Powers That Be gave me a useful vision. I wonder what the last part meant though?"

"What did you see?" Wesley asked worriedly, his brow creasing into a frown. "I saw….The Oracles murdered, and then I was in a long tunnel of stars and ended up seeing Buffy and Spike sharing dinner, except she was eating most of it."

Wesley nodded and picked up the book which Buffy had left when she was here a couple days ago. "I had always discounted Nostradamus as an overpriced marketing vehicle for the occult. But this prophecy is just too much of a coincidence. 'The fates are returned'. I think that was what you saw, Cordelia. The Powers That Be must have allowed the Oracles to return through the children Buffy is to bear."

"You mean her kids are going to be ambassadors to The Powers? Answering questions and telling the future?" Cordelia asked a little put off from having to take orders from Angel's children too.

Wesley shook his head. "It will be difficult to tell. There has never been anything documented that comes even close to the situation that we are facing. We don't know if we must train these children, if their powers will be inborn or if they will even be babies and children at all. They may be born as fully grown as the Oracles were before and just pick up where they left off before they were killed."

Cordelia squinched her eyes in sympathetic pain at the last suggestion.

The Magic Box

Xander, Willow, Tara and Anya squinched their eyes in sympathetic pain at the last suggestion.

"And Glory is still out there, waiting, watching and plotting, trying to find the Key. Which means that Buffy must face her." Giles continued.

"But, why Buffy? Why can't Faith - " Willow began as Anya began screaming.

They all turned to see a bottomless rift in the floor that culminated in a spiraling mist which Anya was trying desperately to grab a handhold in. She had already fallen halfway in when everyone turned to look. "Xander!" she called out.

He jumped down and made himself prone on the floor and grabbed at one of her hands. It looked like he was about to pull her out when something yanked her in and the portal closed leaving nothing behind, including Anya.

4 a.m., Buffy's House

Buffy and Spike sat on her front steps after walking home from the diner. He teased her good naturedly the whole way back, making her laugh so hard that she had to plead with him to stop before her dinner came back out and on him.

He was aching to have a smoke, but he didn't want to be around her when he did. He had watched enough on the telly to know that it was bad for the little ones. He wanted so badly to be more to her. To be more than Riley for sure, but even more than Angel had been. He could do it. So what if he was a vampire and she was the Slayer? It had happened before, he thought ironically. Nothing was holding him back like it was Angel. He didn't even think he wanted the chip out of his head anymore. He could live with it now. For her -- Oh you daft fool! He thought to himself. She is carrying Angel's children and not yours and she had already made it so clear that she didn't want to be with you.

He hung his head a little further down. Then why wasn't _he_ here for her? Taking care of her while she was pregnant? How could he leave her alone? Spike thought to himself some more. He could be more to her than Angel ever could be! He could take care of her through the next six months and after that, she would have to know that he truly loved her and she would love him back!

"Hello. Earth to Spike! You in there?" Buffy was waving her hand in front of Spike's face. "Did you hear me?"

"Sorry, love. What was that?" He said shaking the melancholy and strange hopefulness out of his face.

"I said that I better go inside. I'm really tired." She stood up and Spike walked her the two steps to her front door.

She stared up at him with her tired hazel eyes and murmured a goodnight as she reached over his shoulders to clasp her hands behind his neck.

Surprised, Spike gently returned the hug and timidly stroked her hair as he did so. "Goodnight, love."

Buffy released him and looked down. "And thank you. For everything. And for being such a good friend."

Spike's face fell but before she looked up, he smiled, said goodnight again and left as she let herself into her home.

Buffy went upstairs after checking to see that Dawn was sleeping, proceeded to get ready for bed. All the while she talked out loud. She remembered hearing somewhere, that unborn babies were soothed by hearing their mother's voices.

"Well, you guys, or are you girls? Your daddy said that the Oracles were a guy and a girl so maybe that's what you are. It's nice to know that you've finally found some food that you like. You must remember to thank Spike when you're born. Spike is Mommy's good friend. I didn't think he would be my friend when I first met him. Maybe I'll let you call him Uncle Spike." Buffy laughed out loud at the thought of calling Spike 'uncle' and caught notice of Dawn standing in her doorway.

"Why are you talking to yourself?" Dawn asked.

"Why are you up?" Buffy shook her head and just answered, "I'm talking to your niece and nephew. Or at least I think they will be." Buffy retorted playfully.

Dawn smiled at the prospect. Finally, she'll be older than someone. And she'll be able to tell them what to do, like Buffy had told her what to do her whole life. But, she'll also get to help and protect them as Buffy had done her whole life. "Will you let me watch them and help you take care of them?"

"Sure, sis. I'm going to need all the help I can get. Now go back to sleep so I can too."

Dawn smiled brightly, but it dimmed as Buffy again told her what to do - as if she wasn't going to go back to sleep after they were done talking! - and went back to her room.

The Magic Box, Mid Afternoon

Buffy breezed through the door after lunchtime full of happiness. "I had the best night's sleep and for once these two didn't make my breakfast come right back up!"

She looked around the table and saw that Anya wasn't there. As there were no customers in the shop that needed helping, she asked "Where's Anya?"

Xander slammed down his book and snapped "Can't you see that she's not here? She was taken and we don't even know where!"

Giles shot a withering glance at Xander and said to Buffy, "She was taken by an unseen force into a spectral door last night. We tried to call you Buffy, but Dawn said that you weren't home. Where were you?"

"I ran into a lot of vamps in the cemetery, and my 'evening sickness' kicked in. Spike had to help me and then we went out for a late dinner."

Expressions registered surprise all around except for Xander who still looked angry. "Well while you were on your date, we've been working to find her. You think you can help?"

Buffy grabbed at his collar. "You think that I haven't been through a lot in the last three days? Spike was being a friend which is more than I can say for you right now. I want to help you, but you've got to lose the attitude, Xander." With that, she let him slump into his chair.

Willow spoke up, "He's upset. He wasn't able to pull her out before she disappeared."

Buffy nodded and stood behind Xander's chair with a hand on his shoulder. "So now what?"

Tara gave a shy smile, "I've been trying to look into my crystal ball, but I don't think I have the proper spells. All I get is a lot of open sky and a mansion on a hill. I get the feeling that it's nearby. That doesn't mean anything does it?"

"A mansion?" Buffy rolled her eyes. Why can't the bad guys ever pick someplace new? "You guys know the place."

Xander sputtered. "But that is so clichéd! It can't be the same place."

"Do you know of any other mansions around here?" Buffy asked. Seeing everyone shaking their heads, she continued. "Let's suit up and get ready to go. I don't care who has her, but we've got to go get Anya back."

Everyone dispersed in search of the various things they'd be needing for the task ahead. Xander stopped and looked at Buffy who was still standing in the middle of the room. "Thanks, Buff. I don't know what I would do if - "

Buffy cut him off and simply said "I know."

The Mansion after Sunset

Anya was strapped into an electric chair in a basement. She didn't know where she was, but she remembered how she got here. When she fell through the spectral door, she was unconscious of almost everything except for many hands placing her into this chair. Every time she thought of trying to even hope for rescue, she had been shocked, mildly.

A blonde vision appeared before her, dressed to the nines in all red. "Hi, Glory. Long time no see." Anya parried.

"Oh, so you do remember me even as a pitiful mortal?" Glory returned. "I was surprised when you arrived, to find that you were no longer a demon. That you were even consorting with mortals instead of bringing vengeance upon them. What happened, Anya, lose your touch?"

Anya, despite her seat, rolled her eyes. "I can't believe you're going around in that guise. What's the matter, even you got scared of how you really look?"

Glory glowered at her. "I see you still have a mouth." She flipped a remote and gave Anya an even bigger and longer shock than ever before. When the former vengeance demon's hair started to smoke, she stopped.

Anya weakly sat up and glared right back at Glory. "What do you want?"

"When I first came here, I thought you might be able to help me find the Key, being the second oldest being in this rotten town. I would have even shared a little power with you. But in your frail human form you couldn't even hold any of it." Anya shook her head and laughed, which infuriated Glory, but she didn't shock her this time. "Why are you laughing at me? Don't you dare laugh at me!"

"I'm not laughing." Buffy looked down her crossbow at the ancient demon and let the bolt fly. "Now!" she cried out to all the others.

Buffy had watched the entire exchange between Anya and Glory. It had to be Glory, she thought grimly. She turned to the others who were behind her and let them know who they were dealing with and to stay clear of her.

The bolt hit Glory in the shoulder and she looked at it dumbfounded. She gave Buffy a thousand fold glare as sickly green bile began to run out of the wound. She ran at her, Anya forgotten.

Xander rushed to the chair to release Anya, and as she got up, she forced him to sit so that she could sit in his lap and commence making out with him to thank him. Giles stood over them and cleared his throat. They looked up guiltily and noticed the vampires that had appeared as Glory had run screeching out of the room after Buffy.

Buffy knew this house so well already. She saw the vampires out of the corner of her eye as she left the room. She knew that escape was the only plan for now when it came to Glory. The others could fight the vampires and she would lead Glory back to the room so that they could have her out numbered and fight their way out.

"I can't believe you're running away from me Slayer!" Glory called out as she ran after Buffy. The skin around the wound was already beginning to crust and fade back to her normal dun green. She didn't have the time to heal herself or the concentration to even hold her illusion.

Buffy turned and saw that Glory had almost caught up. She skidded to a halt and let the demon run past her. Buffy did a quick about face and ran back the way she came from. She opened the door to the torture chamber to see Giles and Tara take down the last two vampires. Her friends formed a rough half circle and she stood at the head of it and waited for Glory to come through the door.

"I know you're in there!" Glory cried out frustratedly and threw open the door to see two cross bows, a stave, two witch bolts and a sword aimed straight at her.

Buffy took the sword and pointed at Glory's shoulder. "Ew! What happened to your arm?" she asked sweetly.

Glory glanced down to see that the illusion had faded even more to reveal her whole arm. Throwing both her human and demon arms up in the air with a scream of rage, she disappeared.

Everyone looked to each other with puzzled looks on their faces and left promptly.

The Magic Box, later that night

"The wards are up now Giles," Willow said.

"Good, thank you, Willow, Tara." He turned to Buffy. "That was very clever back there Buffy, appealing to her vanity. But that won't happen again. Glory is going to come back stronger and angry that we caught her off guard and we will need to be prepared."

Buffy put on her mock serious face and saluted. "Yes, sir!" Buffy looked around the room and asked "Where are Xander and Anya?"

"They went back to his place." Willow answered with a quirky smile.

Buffy rolled her eyes and sat down to open the next in a series of old and dusty volumes to find out more about the vainest she-demon she had ever come across.


	4. V-Day

February 14   
Buffy nestled in the crook of his arm and snuggled on to his chest as they went through the heavy text together. Their search so far had been fruitless. He retreated from her and snapped the book closed.

"Let's take a break and not think about this for a while." Angel declared.

Buffy smiled brightly and got up from the couch with a little effort. She was four months pregnant and starting to show. Dr. Everhart said that everything was proceeding nicely and that this would be a normal pregnancy with no complications. Buffy had smiled outwardly and groaned inwardly. Normal? Nothing in her life could ever be normal. She is the Slayer, her children's father is a vampire and all signs pointed to the twins becoming the reincarnations of the Oracles. Normal? Hah!

"How's school?" Angel asked brightly.

Buffy mulled over her answer before telling him all about it. All the while she was fixing herself three sandwiches, making them assembly line style. She wasn't planning on attending school this semester so that she could take care of her mother, but with her mom doing just fine and the doctors giving her a clean bill of health, she had been hoping that her impending pregnancy and delivery would spare her from UC Sunnydale. No such luck. With her due date in June, her mom saw no problem with her attending all semester and taking her finals in May as usual. End of discussion.

"Other than all that, school is okay. I think I'm going to have fun with the professor in my Historical Texts and Prophecy class though. With Faith back in town and staying with Giles, I don't have to go on patrols or save the world or anything like that."

"And you can come up and visit me whenever you want," Angel continued, eyeing her food.

Buffy smiled ruefully and plopped back down on the couch with her overloaded plate and a glass of milk. Angel had invited her to spend the Valentine's Day weekend with him when she came up the last time to tell him that she was pregnant. But, somehow, to Buffy, it felt hollow. They could still do almost all the things that lovers do, but hadn't even shared more than a friendly hug when she arrived Friday night. Oh, she knew what could happen if they gave in to their desires, but Angel didn't even seem to have those desires anymore. She munched thoughtfully on her second sandwich. Did she even have those desires anymore? So much has happened between them to deny that she didn't love him. But it wasn't the same. Was that how he felt?

"Penny for your thoughts?" Angel asked, frowning slightly.

She turned to look at him, all eyes. God, she is so beautiful, Angel thought to himself. Hold yourself there, buddy, he chastised himself almost immediately. He smiled encouragingly, and she hesitated and finally opened her mouth to speak. "Angel, do you still love me?"

Angel jerked back in his seat and got up quickly, leaving Buffy on the couch. He paced back and forth with a brisk stride and came to a stop in front of her before continuing his pace. He came back and kneeled on the floor in front of her, placing her dish carefully on the table and taking her hand in his. "God, Buffy," he stated and she sank down to the floor to join him. "I would love you until the end of time if I had to."

His face took on a pained expression as he got up, leaving Buffy on the floor watching his retreat. He went to his window and looked out across the night sky, face hidden from all but the window frame. Buffy slowly got up, using the table and the couch for support and went to stand behind him. She placed one hand on his shoulder and he turned around, not quite crying. His voice cracked with emotion when he finally spoke. "I'm to be rewarded after I help to save the world. The Powers That Be will make me human again. But until then, Buffy, I can't show you how much I love you. I can't expect you to be alone until then, I want you to find someone who can love you back. But if we save the world in this lifetime, will you forgive me then?"

Buffy, already crying silently, nodded and smiled through her tears and hugged him as his own silent sobs wracked through him. They sat like that, crooning at each other comfortingly, when suddenly, they sprung back from each other.

Buffy looked at Angel in wonder. "Did you feel that?"

He placed his hand on the light curve of her stomach and felt a slightly less violent kick from within and nodded.

"They never did that before. I think they were telling us to stop crying already." Buffy giggled and took Angel's hand to lead him back to the couch. She handed him the heavy book and took her dishes to his kitchen sink. "Sit and keep looking."

Rinsing out the dishes, she returned to her place on the couch next to him. He pointed to a passage in the book. "How about for a girl, Debra?" Buffy shook her head and wrinkled her nose.

Suddenly, she had the perfect idea. "If there is a girl, how about Angela?"

Angel smiled and said. "I like the sound of that." He placed his arm around her and continued paging through "The Biggest Book of Baby Names".

Sunnydale

Spike crushed the last light of his cigarette out under his boot and carefully threw the stub into the Summers' trashcan. Midnight, and she still wasn't home. No one was for that matter. Maybe this wasn't one of his greatest ideas, he thought to himself. But, it was Valentine's Day. She said that she would be home in the evening and she still wasn't there.

He took out his silver cigarette case and sat back down on the back porch to wait. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small velvet box. He opened it and looked for the thousandth time at the silver filagree heart hanging from the delicate silver chain.

Ever since she had told him that he was such a great friend, he had been just that. Helping her in her battles, joking with her, quizzing her in preparation for the few early tests she had to take in the beginning of the semester, asking how her visits with Dr. Everhart had been. No one but Spike knew how he really felt about her.

He thought back to his glory days and how little he had felt for humans. He remembered the rush he had felt as the previous slayers had died at his hands. He smiled despite himself. But, that Spike wasn't who he was now. He wasn't even sure when and why he had started to have feelings for Buffy. When she told him that he was beneath her, that blow had been the worst until she had told him that he was a great friend. What a pansy he had become! But things always do come full circle and he decided that maybe it wasn't so bad to be not so bad.

He had nothing to prove to her. She knew almost everything about him. As he did her. Maybe that is what it was. That they knew each other so well, their strengths and weaknesses. She only needed to find it in herself what he had already found.

Almost two and he had run out of smokes waiting. He closed the velvet box and placed it back into his pocket. Swinging on a low branch, he made his way up to her bedroom window as he had done so many times, many months ago, just to watch her sleep. He found the window unlocked, stepped inside and crossed the room to flip the light on.

He placed the jewelry box on Buffy's desk, which was littered with schoolwork. He cleared it aside and next to the box was now an empty space. He rooted around to find something to write on and came up with a post-it. Grasping one of her 'girly' pens, as he had called them only last week, he thought about what to write. He finally settled on a short message and put the paper sticky side first right on the box. Turning off the light, he exited again through the window. He went down the tree quickly and was walking down the street in the opposite direction when he thought to himself. I can't leave that there! As he turned to go back and retrieve the necklace, he saw the light in Buffy's room turn on.

He hid behind her neighbor's fence in agony. He watched as she dropped her overnight bag on the floor, and paced carrying things back and forth. Finally, she passed again in front of the window holding the box and the post it which was attached to her index finger as she read. She was gone from view again and if Spike had a breath in his body, he would have died holding it until she finally reappeared in front of the window.

She was dressed simply in a pink flannel nightie which caught the slightly rounded bulge of her stomach. And nestled in the hollow of her throat, hanging from the slight chain, was the silver heart.


	5. Alone

Buffy's Room

Midterms were coming and Buffy sat with her notes strewn about and Spike sitting at the foot of her bed. "Get that for me?" Buffy asked, pointing at the book that was on the floor next to him.

"Piss off," he replied with a smile. "Why can't you? I'm comfy."

Buffy pointed to her midsection, which was getting very rounded. "I can't." she retorted with a growl.

"Relax, love. I was going to get it for you anyway." He picked it up and handed it to her.

She flipped through it, hoping to find her notes from last week stuffed in the pages. She had a habit of forgetting her notebooks and writing on whatever was available. She flipped it over and shook out the pages. A yellow post-it fluttered out and onto the bed. She snatched it before Spike could see. Not that he could. He was busy playing with his lighter.

\---"Buffy, I want you to have this. Wear it or not, we'll still be friends. Always, Spike."---

It was her post-it he had attached to the jewelry box he had given her last month on Valentine's Day. That it was beautiful, she could not deny. She had put it on and hadn't taken it off since (except to shower, of course). It was nice to have a friend that didn't have someone else. She always felt like a third wheel intruding on Willow and Tara or Xander and Anya. Not to mention, when they weren't busy off on patrols with Faith, they always wanted to do things like dancing and amusement parks. Nothing like being a fifth wheel. Spike was always there to talk to, if not always ideal. He could be caustic and rude, but sometimes, like now, he could be very companionable.

"I wonder what everyone is doing at the shop." Buffy asked aloud.

It had been a very loud 'discussion' that Giles had with Buffy when she returned from L.A. She was not to patrol or hunt. She was not to even assist at the shop for fear that something could get to her there too. She was to stay at home or at school. Buffy had protested most vehemently, but she was finally forced to concede. Even though the shop was warded, Anya had been taken from there; the wards could only warn of hostile intent, not prevent it. She was in no condition to fight; she must think of her children first. It was best to stay away from all things concerning her fate. Faith would be able to take care of everything. Willow and Tara placed a spell of distortion on her that night, that would hide her true identity to prevent demons who were seeking her out from finding her. It would work for as long as she didn't fight any demons.

Now she had everything she had hoped for. A normal life, with no such thing as slaying, with the only abnormality being a vampire at the foot of her bed and unborn Oracles in her womb. What about after they were born? Her mom and Dawn and everyone could help to take care of them, but who could protect them against the brand of enemy that was always hunting her down, with nothing more than her demise as their prize? The answer was simple, she didn't know.

"Not so fun being impotent, eh love?" Spike asked idly, interrupting her thoughts, still playing with his lighter.

"Not that you'd know anything about that I'm sure," Buffy countered slyly.

"That's not what I meant. What I meant was, not so fun not being able to do what you were meant to do." Spike quickly covered for the err in his speech before.

Buffy sighed, studying forgotten. She yawned and curled up at the head of her bed with the books still scattered around her and nodded. "I miss slaying. I was good at it. Even though it made my life off the wall, I liked it. I know I'll be getting back to it before I know it, but I can't stand not being able to even know what's going on."

"I know, love. But you know it's for the good of you and the tots. Mostly you."

Spike turned to see Buffy sleeping soundly. He cleared the books off the bed and placed them in a pile on her desk. Pulling the covers she had kicked aside before she started studying over her, he couldn't help being awed by her. She was more beautiful than ever, the heaviness of child only adding to it. She was wearing the silver heart he had given her for Valentine's Day.

He still remembered when she confronted him about it the next day.

February 15

She had been waiting for him when he finally arrived after midnight. She watched him come in through the window and stalked over to him before he could take a step further into her room. Pointing to her neck, she asked "What's this, Spike?"

*My heart, I gave it to you.* William the poet replied.

Spike, however responded "Don't get yourself all worked up, love. It's just a little something I saw and thought of you. I missed Christmas and your birthday after all. I-". He cut himself off before his rambling got out of control.

Buffy's expression softened. She knew that it was a Valentine's Day present, but was too polite to point it out to Spike. She knew how he felt about her. If she hadn't known it by the end of that night (could that have only been four and a half months ago?) when he told her how he had killed the other Slayers, she had to know now. Buffy reached up on tiptoe to brush her lips against his cheek and said, "Thank you. It's beautiful."

Spike was dumb with shock. When he collected his senses, she had already plopped back onto her bed to continue with her reading for the next day. She wore it everyday, but they never spoke about the necklace again.

Today

Leaving the sleeping Buffy alone, he slipped out her window. He could use the front door, but force of habit kept him using the window. He made sure that it was closed behind him and swung down the thick mass of branches until he reached the ground.

Walking with a purpose, he lit a cigarette and arrived at the Magic Box just as he finished it.

The Magic Box

"So as you see, the portents of evil are heavy in the air." Giles concluded as Spike walked through the door.

Xander turned to see who had arrived and smirked. "Speak of the devil…."

Spike ignored him and took a place next to Willow. She was the only one who didn't seem to hate him being here. He hadn't noticed before, the others were only barely able to tolerate him, thanks to Buffy. But at least he was at the table. Faith was sitting on the counter with her legs swinging out in front of her and when she wasn't looking he snatched a peek at her face. It was almost wistful - which was a far cry from the easy grin she usually wore. Xander, Anya, Tara, Willow, Spike, Giles, and Wesley made up a closed circle which she somehow couldn't pierce.

Not that anyone had been rude. They were always nice to her and constantly thanked her for what she was doing for Buffy. Buffy. She was just a temporary replacement until the all powerful B came back to take her rightful place. No, those weren't good thoughts, she reminded herself. Buffy was doing something important, and this was her chance to make up all the horrible things she had done to her before. She really wanted to. She was even looking forward to going back to jail. At least there, she was supposed to be alone.

She hopped off the counter and walked until she was just behind the group, and asked brightly, "So what's next? What kind of demon do I have to kill to save the world this time?"

"She goes by the name Glory, and Buffy must be the one to face her. Since Buffy has been hiding from the forces of darkness, Glory has been summoning all sorts of things to wreak havoc and to draw Buffy out of hiding. She doesn't know about you. She only knows that she can't find Buffy; she must not learn of Buffy's condition. You must fight those demons until Buffy can fight their queen."

Faith snapped her fingers and stated with a diffident smile, "I'm there. When do I start?"

Sunnydale High School

Buffy walked down the corridors of her high school, surprised to be there. It looked just as it had before she had blown it up. If everything was in black and white and she was the only thing in color.

It's only a dream, she thought to herself. But, she didn't feel like she did when she was confronted by the first slayer. That had been a sense of foreboding, knowing that she was to confront something. This was something completely different. Almost as if she could feel the evil in the non air.

"Buffy! Help me!"

Buffy turned to hear her sister's voice scream out in pain. She began to run in the direction that it had come from and suddenly the corridor nearly tripled in length.

"Buffy please! Hurry!"

"I'm coming Dawn, hang on!" She called breathlessly as she kept running.

Finally, she came to the end of the hallway and to the entrance of the auditorium. She was about to kick open the door when the floor under her collapsed and flames leapt up from the pit that was suddenly formed. That's funny, that wasn't always there, Buffy thought again to herself. The doors blew open to reveal an audience full of all sorts of nasties in full color.

"Buffy!" Dawn called hopefully from the stage, where she was trapped in some medieval torture device. It looked like as though she was set up to be drawn and quartered, but two beds of spikes were set up to puncture her a hundred times over between them, and as if that wasn't overkill enough, the whole contraption was turned horizontal so that her head was caught in the hole of a guillotine. The entire room looked over to her and clapped. She got a standing ovation. But Dawn's captor was not visible.

Buffy made ready to jump over the flames. She would fight three roomfuls of these monsters just so she could save Dawn. As she was about to take her running start, a tiny Giles appeared on her shoulder who shook his head and clucked disapprovingly. He was dressed in his normal clothing, but he had an angel costume complete with the pipe cleaner halo and filmy wings strapped to his back over it. Buffy stopped short and realized that if she fought, Willow and Tara's spell would be broken.

The illusion vanished and the dream slipped away.

The Magic Box

The group dispersed as Faith was dispatched to check out a rash of comas that had been brought on by nothing to otherwise healthy people. Five in three weeks. The news reports blamed a faulty tank at the water purification plant, but this being the Hellmouth, they all knew otherwise.

Xander and Anya excused themselves, saying that they needed to go to his place to study. Never mind that neither of them attended school.

With Tara sifting through the rest of the latest shipment of books, and Giles and Wesley talking quietly by the counter, Willow was left sitting at the table with Spike.

She managed a small smile and asked, "So how's Buffy?"

Spike looked up startled, "What makes you think I know how Buffy is?"

Willow made a small gesture with her hand. "We all know you hang out with her. So just tell me, how's she doing?"

"She's fine. I was with her before I came here, I was just thinking about how -" Spike stopped and looked at her, incredulous. "How the bloody hell did you do that?"

Willow giggled a little and called out, "Tara, it worked!"

Tara appeared at Willow's shoulder and asked, "You really did it? How long did it last?"

"Only a few seconds, but it finally worked!"

"Would you two broomstick riders mind telling what you're talking about?"

Willow giggled a little more and answered, "Its sort of a witchy version of the 'Jedi Mind Trick' from the Star Wars movies. We've been working on it for weeks. So, what were you thinking about, Spike?"

Spike stood up and glowered at her. "I don't have to take this anymore, I'm leaving," he stated with a strange dignity.

Tara and Willow looked at each other and shrugged as he breezed out the door.

The Bad Part of Town

The customers in the rest of the bar didn't even look up as the bartender slid face first down the length of the counter. Faith picked him up and set him up for his second ride. From under his head, a muffled plea.

"What was that? I didn't hear you." She spoke roughly as she lifted his head up and with it his mashed lips from the countertop.

"I'll tell you anything. Just stop ok? You're worse than the other girl." Faith smiled at that and let him stand upright. "Geez, you could at least ask the questions first and _then_ start beating me up."

"Tell me who's been causing all the vegetables." Faith demanded, leaning conspiratorially on the bar.

"Vegetables? I don't know anything about vegetables. Customer's don't ask for them much." Willy replied and was rewarded with a bloody nose. "All right, all right. There's a new demon in town. Goes by the name Vermithrax. Feeds on energy in dreams, then leaves the people or other demons for dead. He got a couple of my regulars too."

"Where is he?" She asked pulling him to eye level by his shirt collar.

"I don't know," Faith reached back to throw a punch, and Willy threw up his arms to block his face, "I don't! I've never seen him, no one has."

Faith released him to the floor and banged out the door of the bar.

Willy got up, still clutching at his wounded nose. "Definitely worse than the other one."

Buffy's House

"Buffy!" Joyce Summers called up the stairs. "Buffy, you're going to be late for your appointment with Dr. Everhart!" Hearing no reply, she turned to her younger daughter. "Dawn could you please go wake Buffy?"

Dawn plunked her spoon back onto the table from her cereal bowl and ran through the living room to stand at the bottom of the stairs and scream "BUFFY!"

Joyce gave her a Look from the kitchen and Dawn sighed. Running up the stairs, she thought about her cereal getting soggier by the second. Finally, she burst through Buffy's door, to find her sister still curled up in bed.

"Buffy? Buffy!" she shook Buffy shoulders and managed to get a murmur about needing to go back to sleep. Dawn moved until her face was an inch away from Buffy's. "Buffy, are you getting up or not? Mom's going to be mad." Another murmur and Buffy rolled over with her back facing Dawn.

Nightfall

After checking on Buffy herself, Joyce decided that she must have needed the sleep so she called Dr. Everhart back and cancelled the day's appointment. Buffy hadn't gotten up all day and when Spike arrived in the evening, she was still asleep. Joyce offered him some hot cocoa while they waited for her to get up.

Spike seemed like a nice boy, despite being a vampire and almost a hundred and fifty years old. He came to visit Buffy almost every night, helped around the house and Dawn even liked him. She had asked Buffy if there was something going on between them a few weeks back. Buffy had only fingered the filigree heart around her neck and replied that Spike was just a friend. He didn't talk about himself much, mostly lending an ear to the day's problems and sometimes offering advice. But, Joyce knew that he felt for Buffy.

After an hour passed and the hot cocoa from their cups was gone, Spike excused himself and went up the stairs to see Buffy and wait in her room for her to wake.

Opening her door, he prepared himself for the lovely sight of Buffy sleeping. He was surprised by how cold her room was. Having no internal temperature himself, he felt when places were too cold or too hot. Pushing the door wider, he saw her and stopped short. She was sound asleep, but it was wrong. She had turned ashy pale, almost gray, and upon every exhalation, he could see the little puff of steam from her mouth.

Quickly, he turned from the room and ran down the stairs and out the front door, leaving Joyce looking after him, puzzled.

The Dungeon

Buffy struggled against her chains. Another dream. She had passed in and out of at least a dozen, remembering none. All she knew is they all ended with her deciding not to fight. She discovered that she didn't even need to lift a finger in her dreams. But this was all together different again.

A mist collected around her feet and rose to tower three feet above her. The mist coalesced into a form, an eight foot tall man with a bald head, wearing red robes. He pinched her chin between his forefinger and thumb. "My dear, you are not giving the energy I know you have. So much energy, so much power. Share with me?"

Buffy wrenched her face out of his clasp and went limp. "I will not fight you. "

The demon laughed and bent down so that he was looking in her face. "You do not have to fight. Your life force will be mine soon enough and I will have with me the power of the Slayer." He didn't mention her children and she looked down, seeing only her feet.

Breathing a sigh of relief, she looked at him again. How did he find her though? Catching Buffy's look, he continued, "How did I find you my dear? These are dreams. They don't take place in the head on your body! They take place in your mind, your soul. I simply had to look for you."

Buffy struggled against her chains, willing herself to wake up. Vermithrax's laughter continued. "You can't stop me Slayer. You're all alone."

The Magic Box

"His name is Vermithrax. He feeds on energy as people sleep." Faith concluded her findings for everyone in the shop.

"How-?" Willow began.

Spike burst in through the doors. His face was wracked with a strange mixture of hope and agony. "We have to help Buffy. She can't wake up and I think there's a demon in her head."

Xander's feet came down off the table with a thud and everyone whipped their faces around to Spike.

"Vermithrax." Giles stated colorlessly.

Wesley spoke up. "I read about an occurrence like this. Rupert, do you have the 'Metranglore'?"

"Why yes I do, but I don't remember anything about Vermithrax in there," Giles replied searching for the book on the shelf. Finding it, he placed it in Wesley's hands.

Wesley paged through swiftly and came to a passage at the end of the book. "A creature who lives on the energy from the soul's dreams. He will go by many names and prey on many. Humans and demons alike. He prefers humans to demons because of the soul's ability to create richer dreams. He was banished by an order of monks when he made the mistake of revealing his true form outside of the mind. He can only be called by she who has no name. Glory." Wesley finished and looked up, stricken.

"How do we save Buffy?" Willow asked worriedly.

"A spell follows the passage. It requires a creature with no soul, who loves the sleeper enough to fight for her in her dreams. Where will we ever find that? We all have souls except - "

They all turned to Spike and he was already speaking, "I'll do it."

Buffy's House

Joyce opened the door to find Giles, Wesley, Spike, Willow, Tara, Xander, Anya and Faith on her doorstep. She was surprised to see Faith, but remembered that Buffy had said that she was taking over the Slayer duties until the twins were born. "What's wrong with Buffy?" She asked Giles as he came through the door, "I can't wake her up."

While the others were filing up the stairs, Spike placed a hand on Joyce's shoulder, "We'll save her."

Willow and Anya both gave Dawn a hug as they passed her and finally, they were all in Buffy's room. Anya shivered visibly and they began.

They moved her bed out from the wall and Spike was directed to lie in bed next to Buffy. As he lay down, Spike checked his pocket again to make sure he had the item Giles had given him. Willow, Tara, Giles and Wesley used small amounts of colored powder to create symbols on the floor around the bed. Faith, Xander and Anya lit the candles. They joined hands, creating a circle around Spike and Buffy. It began.

Willow, Tara and Giles recited the proper Words as the others echoed them. The power of the spell swelled and created a burst of light which first rose and crashed into the bed between Spike and Buffy.

The Dungeon

Buffy stopped pulling on her chains and looked around hopefully for something that she could break out of them with. There was nothing and no one there. Just bare rock wall with other sets of chains and a single torch that only threw everything into weird shadows instead of lighting the place. She heard sudden movement and turned her head to look. She saw a figure stumbling and heard "Bloody hell, my head."

It can't be, she thought to herself. "Spike?"

He appeared before her and smiled, before raising an axe in front of her face and swinging. Buffy braced herself and found her hands free of the chains.

Vermithrax appeared in a ball of fire and exclaimed surprised when he saw Spike. Buffy took the axe from Spike and began swinging. The fight was on.

Buffy's Room

Willow gasped as Buffy and Spike began to move. But they weren't really moving. They seemed to ripple within their skins without really moving. She grasped Tara's and Giles' hands more tightly and willed their friends to come back and come back unharmed.

The Dungeon

Vermithrax was beaten. He just didn't want to admit it. As his power diminished, Buffy and Spike easily freed themselves from the illusions he placed before them. Finally, Buffy willed her axe to be a sword, raised it and ran at Vermithrax. She caught him in the shoulder and kept running. She impaled him on the wall and ran the sword in all the way to the hilt. "Spike now!"

Spike reached into his pocket and pulled out the frosted glowing cube. He opened it and said the words that Wesley had instructed. Vermithrax screamed again and dissolved into mist. The mist was pulled into the cube. When the last of it was inside, the cube snapped shut and stopped glowing.

Buffy pulled the sword out of the wall and walked over to Spike. Figuring it was just a dream, she stood on tiptoe and kissed him lightly on the lips and murmured, "My hero."

He reached around to the back of her head and they kissed again, longer this time. What a dream, Buffy thought to herself.

Suddenly, she felt her pillow under her head and her sheets under her body. She stretched and turned to get out of bed. Buffy opened her eyes to see blue ones staring back at her.

"Anytime, love." Spike replied.


	6. Rebirth, Part One

June 9, 8 a.m., Buffy's House

"Spike, could you go get Buffy please? Breakfast is almost ready." Joyce Summers asked the vampire houseguest.

It had been a month and a half since Buffy had been attacked by Vermithrax. It had been wholeheartedly agreed upon that Buffy should have someone with her at home at all times. Who better than Spike? He _had_ to stay in all day. Finals came and went, with no further impediments on Buffy's 'normal life' and the grades were in. They were much better than Buffy had been expecting, but with all the extra time she had from not Slaying, she had more time to actually study. Not that she had actually wanted to, but what else could she do?

Spike reveled in Buffy's presence. To love her, to have her open to the idea of them being more than friends. It was marvelous. He helped her study for her finals, sat in the kitchen while Joyce taught him how to cook, listened to Dawn talk about school. He thought back to his past. It was so long ago in his mind. He was a different person now. Still dead, but a different person all the same.

In this new phase of their relationship, they proceeded very slowly. They already knew so much about each other, but still they talked.

A Couple Weeks Ago

Spike sat on the sofa with his arm draped across the back. Buffy had burrowed into the cozy space between his arm and his body. He had been a little cold, but had warmed with her nearness. He lowered his arm from the back of the couch to rest on her swollen midsection. They were watching a 'chick flick', as he called them, on TV. It was a movie Buffy had seen before she even found out she was pregnant, when she was with Riley.

"Tell me about Dru," she had asked him.

Spike was silent for a while. "Drusilla was a trip. I spent more than a hundred years with her, and I still couldn't figure that bird out. She was mad you know?" Buffy nodded her head into his stomach, "But, sometimes, she had such moments where she was more sane than the rest of us. She knew- in Brazil - when she left me for that Chaos Demon. She knew then that I was in love with you, even before I did."

With a great effort, Buffy raised herself into a sitting position. "Spike, I don't want you to think that I'm in love with you. I made that mistake with Riley. I know that now. I wish I could tell him that, but he's dead."

Spike nodded, wondering where this was going.

"But, I like you a lot. Probably more than I'm willing to admit."

Spike tightened his arm around her shoulders in a half-hug. Being with Buffy was nothing like Spike's dreams, which had once called nightmares. It was not as intense, but it was so much more. They both thought so. Like the necklace, it was something they didn't need to talk about.

Today

Spike made his way up the stairs, looking forward to seeing Buffy, waking her in the diffused light of the morning sun. His poet's mind raced. He doubted that a hundred years more could make his poetry any better than it had been in the nineteenth century, but to his heart, Buffy was poetry in motion.

There she was. She was wound around the enormous teddy bear Spike had given her at her baby shower a few weeks ago, after finals, with her fist lightly curled under her chin. Xander had even teased him about being a softie. The old Spike would have probably killed him on the spot. The Spike with the chip would have made a threat at least. This Spike just laughed it off and teased Xander about the gift he had given her. She was wearing it right now. It was a white triple extra large t shirt with a yellow diamond in the front. Across the diamond, black letters emblazoned, "Oracles on Board". The gang had shared a mixture of groans and stern looks when she raised it up for all to see.

As he opened the door wider, her eyes shimmered open. A light sheen was on her forehead due to the early morning summer heat. Her lips curved into a smile as she held her hand out to him. He grasped it tenderly and helped her first sit up and then stand. He didn't let go of her hand as they walked down the stairs.

They sat at the table just as Dawn was scooting into the kitchen. Her last final was today and she would finally be free of middle school and on to Sunnydale High. The prom and graduation were in two weeks and the whole family was looking forward to it. Spike had offered to take her to make up for not being there during the outdoor daytime graduation, but she had refused, saying that Xander was already taking her.

"Buffy, what's the matter? Are you feeling ok?" Joyce asked worriedly, noticing that her eldest daughter was barely touching the Spanish omelet she had made for her.

"Not really. My stomach is bothering me this morning." Buffy replied, toying with a green pepper.

"Do you think you should call Dr. Everhart?"

"No. I think I'll be alright. Just need to get out of the house. I think I'll hang out in the back yard for a little while and get some fresh air." Buffy stated and pushed herself away from the table.

June 9, 12 noon, Giles' House

Faith sat in the chaise lounge chair, dressed in nothing but a black bikini, taking in the sun. She had sunglasses on and was reading Giles' translated copy of the 'Dagon Manuscripts'. Two birds with one stone. A great tan that she would never get in jail and she would learn how to kill Glory before Buffy could. Giles had already left for the shop at nine. She pretended to be asleep when he checked on her. After he left, she gave herself a pep talk about the day and rose.

Today would be the day she killed Glory.

June 9, 2:30 p.m. Buffy's House

"I can't believe they did that to those two! They were meant to be together! How could she interrupt their wedding, wearing _that_ of all things?" Spike swore at the television. His addiction to soap operas was as bad as ever.

Buffy rubbed a comforting arm on his shoulder and said nothing, knowing better than to argue. Her stomach had never settled and it was feeling even worse. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead despite the air conditioning and her nearness to Spike. There was that stomach cramp again. Stomach cramp? She felt a wetness run down her leg. Oh no…

"Spike? I think it's time."

They had attended late night Lamaze classes together and both snapped into the procedure that had been drilled into them. Spike dialed the emergency telephone number and in between coaching Buffy's breathing and gathering the things they would need for the hospital, wrote a note for Joyce and Dawn.

As the ambulance arrived, Spike ran to it and in and yelled at the attendants who were helping Buffy to the open doors. He hadn't been in the sun for more than ten seconds, but a bit of smoke was still coming up from his hair when they finally got her inside. "I guess this means I won't find out if Rebecca really did that or if it was a dream," he said to Buffy with a sardonic grin.

"I'm sure," Buffy responded through clenched teeth, "that they have televisions at the hospital."

June 9, 6 p.m., Buffy's House

She had been waiting for over an hour before Dawn finally walked in the door. She watched as Dawn first picked up the scrap of paper with the chicken scrawl from Spike, then the piece of stationery from Joyce. Buffy was in hospital, the twins would be here soon. She knew she had no time to waste and didn't waste any wondering why Dawn had taken so long to get home from school.

She curled around the entrance to the kitchen. Dawn jumped, startled. She had always thought there was something creepy about this girl. The other Slayer. "Hi, Faith."

Faith tried to put on her best smile. "You have to come with me."

"To Buffy right?"

"Sure. Let's go." Faith cocked her head in the direction of the door and got on the motorcycle Wesley had lent her that had been parked around back. Handing the other helmet to Dawn, she waited for her to get on and they rode away from the house, throwing dust in their wake.

June 9, 7 p.m., Sunnydale Hospital

Xander was waiting just inside the front doors as the black classic convertible stopped under the awning. Joyce had called from the hospital around six. Anya had been upset because he had answered the phone when she was just about to try out that new idea she had heard about from the radio. She had calmed a little when she heard why. He had offered to go pick up Dawn, but when he got to the Summers' home, she was already gone.

The passenger side door opened to reveal a tall and impressive Angel. He turned and leaned down to say something to Cordelia and strode in.

Xander stuck out his hand in greeting, and said with a grin "Hey, Angel, long time no see. But, you could probably say the same thing to yourself."

Angel passed the offered hand by and began walking at a great pace. Xander had to sprint to catch up. Angel barked as he walked, "Where is she?"

June 9, 7:02 p.m., Sunnydale Hospital

Spike held her right hand as her mother held her left. The contraction had ripped through her worse than the last. Dr. Everhart was on hand to assist the on-staff obstetrician. They had been in about half an hour ago. They only smiled at her and told her that she was nowhere near delivery. First babies always took the longest.

"Where _is_ HE?" she cried out as the last wave of pain subsided.

Giles looked up from his vantage point in the chair across from Buffy's bed to see the door swing open. "I'm right here." Angel said from the open door. Xander was standing behind him Willow and Tara gave him a wide berth and Joyce released Buffy's hand. Angel picked it up lovingly. "I'm right here."

Buffy gave him a small smile which would have been funny considering her earlier monstrous outburst, and sank finally into a semi conscious respite. Angel stared at her for a long time, watching as her brow furrowed with each contraction, and finally looked up to see Spike staring directly at him with nothing but hate written in his eyes.

June 9, 9 p.m., Giles' House

He looked from Faith to Dawn and back to Faith again, "Are you quite sure this will work? I mean, are you sure about this?" Wesley asked in his Oxford British accent.

"Five by five." Faith replied simply.

June 9, 10 p.m. The Mansion

"I can almost taste that Slayer." Glory sniffed at the stale air inside the mansion.

Every underling she had sent to draw the Slayer out of hiding had failed for one reason or another. Most never came back. Hah. They were probably afraid that what she could do to them was a hundred times worse than being killed by the Slayer.

The air definitely felt different. She could almost see her. That blonde bitch who had caused a building to collapse on her, who had distracted her enough to let some of her true image come through the illusion, that had evaded her every attempt to ferret her out, no matter how hard she tried.

"Pull yourself together Glory. You've been around since the dawn of time. You can't let one mortal pester you so. So what if she's a Slayer? You've killed at least a couple dozen of them."

Glory smiled at the thought and waited. Something was going to happen, and she was going to be ready for it.

June 9, 11 p.m. Sunnydale Hospital

He pitched his cigarette butt across the parking lot as far as his arm would allow. As it landed, he turned to go back inside. As soon as they found out that she had been having mild contractions since the morning, the doctors had ordered everyone out so they could do a full diagnostic on Buffy. They were starting to get concerned. The labor had probably started before she had even woken up. Over twenty hours at least and she was still only halfway there.

She was almost within his grasp, finally, and he could quite possibly lose her tonight. After all she had been through, she could die like this. Spike sat down on the curb, looked up at the full moon and released a humorless snicker. "Bullocks."

He felt a presence behind him and turned to see Angel standing in the halo of the light from the doorway. "Spike."

Spike calmed a little before smiling and saying, "Angel!" he patted the pavement next to him and continued, "Have a seat, mate!"

Angel walked out of the doorway and over to Spike. "What are you doing here?"

Spike stood and stared directly into Angel's eyes, again. "What am I doing here? You want to know what am I doing here? What the bloody hell are YOU doing here? I've been here for Buffy while you play hero of the world up in LA. You couldn't even come down and visit her ONCE?"

Angel took a step back, baffled. Spike was shaking with rage.

Spike simply stalked after him. Soul-boy thinks he can just waltz in and out of her life, hurting her each and every time. He wouldn't let him this time. He grabbed the collar of Angel's coat and said starkly, "Remember, Angel, you're still a demon, and this chipper in my head doesn't stop me from harming demons. If she dies tonight I will have no problem killing you."

June 10, Midnight, Outside the Mansion

Dawn and Faith crept over the grounds of the Mansion. Dawn thought about all that had taken place since she arrived in her home to see Faith waiting for her. It was all too weird and upsetting.

Faith had taken her to Giles' house instead of the hospital. There, Faith had told her everything. About not being Buffy's sister, but, instead, some Key, about Glory, and about what they both had to do. She had cried at first, believing that Faith had turned evil again and was trying to torture her. But, she made her read the translated 'Dagon Manuscripts', which included the spell which had allowed her to come into being. She had tagged along with Tara and Willow enough to know that it was an extremely powerful spell.

Next, Faith showed her a part in the original which she said that she couldn't read. The writing pre dated cuneiform, Faith had told her. She had looked at the other Slayer, puzzled, because she could read it perfectly.

"And so the one who had no name will be restless, until the Key is given a form and will rise to stop her."

"And that's supposed to be me?" Dawn asked the older girl.

"You got it kiddo, but we need to hurry."

With Wesley's arrival, they began to prepare.

They were just outside the cellar door. Faith snapped off the rusted lock and they climbed gingerly down the stairs. Dawn hoped they would be able to do it. She hoped she was ready.

June 10, 12:30 a.m., The Mansion

"I can feel it." Glory breathed excitedly.

The Ronga demons that surrounded her shook their pointed heads and chattered amongst themselves. None of them were listening to the others; they just kept chattering. Their mismatched, brightly colored clothes only added to her growing headache. Angered, she considered cutting them all to pieces, just for their horrid fashion sense, but decided against it. They were mindless, but they were good at following orders.

"The Key is coming to me."

June 10, 1 a.m., Sunnydale Hospital

Angel and Spike paced outside Buffy's room at opposite ends of the hallway, the harsh fluorescent light of the hospital casting their faces into further shadow. At times one or the other would look up and give the other vampire a look which a brave man could not see and survive. Joyce, Tara, Willow, Anya, Xander and Giles were seated in a row across from the door. Wesley had called saying that Faith and Dawn were with him, but something had come up and they couldn't be there. They all knew that if Dawn was with Faith, she would be safe.

Finally, Angel stopped in front of the spectators and asked. "What is it that no one is telling me?"

Buffy had called dutifully after each visit with Dr. Everhart, except for that one week when she overslept and missed the appointment. Recently, though, she had stopped calling at other times during the week. He had assumed that finals were getting to her, and didn't question it. Willow cast a glance in Spike's direction and suddenly, Angel got the answer without anyone saying a word. "Him?" he asked incredulously, pointing.

Joyce was about to open her mouth in defense of Spike when the doctor opened the door and asked for Joyce, Angel and Spike. Joyce walked into the delivery room first, and Angel and Spike did the 'after-you' dance. At last, the doctor closed the door behind them and the gang looked at each other uneasily.

June 10, 1:30 a.m., The Mansion

Faith had picked through the various traps in the basement and she and Dawn made their way up the stairs that led to Glory. They went through the halls of the mansion they had heard about, but had never been, towards the only room where light emanated.

Faith kicked in the door, knocking over the two Ronga demons that were guarding it.

Glory stood in front of the dim fireplace. She turned nonchalantly and said, "Hello, Slayer." Noticing the young girl behind her, she did a double take. She was the Key? "Get them, but I want the girl alive!" she shouted to her horde.

The Ronga demons babbled in an affirmative to her command and Faith flew into the crowd and began picking them off one by one, leaving Dawn alone with Glory.

June 10, 2 a.m., Sunnydale Hospital

Dr. Everhart flipped through Buffy's chart and brought the first page around with a snap. "So you see, if she's not properly effaced within the next hour, we will have to perform a c-section. I was hoping with her health, that we could avoid that, but now, it's looking as though we will have to go through with it."

Buffy tossed her head listlessly in the bed as the latest contraction subsided. They were getting weaker as she was. "Stop talking like I'm not here," she muttered at no one in particular, "I'm the one who wanted them here."

Spike and Angel looked at each other, as they stood over her on opposite sides of the bed and silently agreed to sort out whatever problems they may have with each other later. Right now, all that mattered was Buffy.

June 10, 2:10 a.m., The Mansion

Cracking the head of the last Ronga demon against the marble table, Faith turned to see Dawn and Glory motionless. They stood, staring into each other's eyes, each one oblivious to Faith and the surroundings.

The Ether World [June 10, 2:15 a.m., The Mansion]

The gaseous haze swirled around the two beings as they conversed. It was like old friends meeting after a long absence.

The first, the hideous green monstrosity, unfurled its ragged wings and brought its dragon like head down, with its stinking breath and broken teeth, to speak to the other, the being that was composed entirely of light.

"So we meet again. This time you carry the Key within. Very clever. But I will get it this time. I will release the gate of hell and take my place as Queen of the Nine Depths and the mortal world above." the not-Glory being spoke.

"You can not extinguish the light, Glory. It will always be there to chase away your darkness. Yours and that of all your kind." the light-being replied.

June 10, 2:19 a.m., The Mansion

Faith had been transfixed by the two women before her. Suddenly, Glory snapped out of whatever trance had held her and roared in another language. She made a move towards Dawn and Faith moved to intercept her. "Dawn, look out!"

Dawn didn't flinch as Faith was tossed aside like a rag doll. Her head hung askew where she lay. An unseen wind began to course through the mansion, until it had gathered all around Dawn.

June 10, 2:21 a.m., Sunnydale Hospital

The fetal monitor beeped constantly with two distinct patterns. Buffy's monitor held a slow rhythm. Suddenly, that slow rhythm became the steady hum of a flatline.

Angel rushed out to get the doctors. Spike held Buffy's hand and pressed his forehead to hers and whispered, "Don't leave me."

Joyce put her head down on the edge of the bed and alternately cursed whoever had 'called' Buffy and prayed to God that she would be alright.

The doctors ran in and stepped in between Buffy and her loved ones. They looked at her with anxiety as the fetal monitors began to beep frantically. They would have to perform the c-section before reviving her. The defibrillator would kill the infants. They worked quickly. They had to.

June 10, 2:21 a.m., The Mansion

At long last, the Key would be hers. All she had to do was kill this human. She walked towards the girl called Dawn with a steady gait and pulled a mace off the wall. She stood right in front of her, despite the wind that was ruining her hair, raised her arm in order to finish the frail slip of a teenager off.

She was shocked to see the mace rebound off the air without hitting Dawn. The wind had all finally arrived and concentrated itself around Dawn. A light began to radiate from her and her eyes began to glow goldenly. Dawn raised her arms, traced arcane symbols in the air and began to speak in that otherworldly language.

Glory covered her ears and began to shriek. She fell down and kept right on screaming as Dawn advanced on her, repeating the words over and over again. The earth shook violently and Glory was gone.

The wind died down and released Dawn. She collapsed, crying softly to herself.

June 10, 2:22 a.m., Sunnydale Hospital

"Ok, here's a big girl," the doctor said brightly without meaning it. He pulled the quiet infant out of the incisions he had made in Buffy's abdomen and handed her to the nurse. The nurse shuffled away quickly to clean the newborn, and the doctor let out an unconscious sigh of relief as he heard her squall from the other side of the room.

"And here's her brother," he finished his statement. The boy's eyes were open as he took in the new surroundings. Infants seen to, the other doctor commanded, "Ok, stitch her up as fast as you can and get that thing charged up."


	7. Rebirth, Part Two

The Magic Box

The light shone in through the door as Buffy walked in. She was surprised to see the shop empty, and looked in the bookshelves and under the counter for anyone. The door to her training room opened and Faith leaned against the doorjamb. "Hey," she said quietly, with a small smile.

"Hey," Buffy replied. "Where are the others?"

"They're waiting. They need you, B. He needs you."

"What about you?" Buffy asked worriedly.

Faith shook her head and smiled. "I'll be alright. Go."

Buffy reached out across the space of the shop and was caught in a hug. "Thank you."

June 10, 2:23 a.m., Sunnydale Hospital

"Okay move it up to 350! Clear!"

"Hold it, we have a pulse!"

"BP up and climbing!"

Buffy opened her eyes and wondered what had happened. One second she was with her old friend, the next, she was pulled, unwilling to the hospital. Her mother's face loomed over hers. "Buffy are you ok?"

"She's going to be fine, Mrs. Summers. Just give her a little time to adjust. You can call in the others in a minute."

Buffy closed her eyes and ran her hands over her stomach. Her babies! Where were they? She sat up quickly and some errant tubes fell out of her arms. There, at the foot of her bed, Spike and Angel each held an infant. The doctors had given up on the question as to who was the father, and as Joyce had called them in first, they just gave one infant to each man. They were entranced. "A-hem," Buffy cleared her throat and held out her arms.

The two looked at each other, and moved again to opposite sides of the bed. In the minute that Buffy had been dead, they had come close to destroying the hallway outside her room and each other. .

Spike knelt down beside her and asked, "What are you going to call them?"

Buffy rolled to her side to accept the child from Angel. "This little girl will be Angela." She looked up at Angel and he nodded.

Turning her back on Angel, she took the baby from Spike. "And this baby boy will be William."

Spike looked at her, astonished, and stroked her face gently. Behind her, took in the sight and the filigree heart that hung down nearly touching the little boy's head.

The doctor came through the door, with a nurse in tow. The babies had to be taken to the neo natal ward. They were big for premature twins, but, they still needed to be observed. The doctor threw everyone out again so he could perform routine tests on Buffy. Considering that she had been dead for a minute and fifteen seconds, she was just fine, but the tests still needed to be done. Procedure.

The others in the hall had been shaken by the turn that Buffy had taken. They tried in vain to prevent the two vampires from killing each other. Now, after everything, they were just exhausted. Happy that everything had worked out, but exhausted. They watched as the babies emerged in the arms of the nurse and moved quickly down the hall. Next came Joyce with a tired smile that reflected their own. She moved out to Giles and he stood to accept her hug. Last, came Angel and Spike. Spike looked at the gang and seemed to want to say something, but moved on and out of the ward. Angel gave them a nod and followed the younger vampire.

June 10, 3 a.m., The Mansion

"Faith? Dawn?" Wesley called out as he walked through the dark hallways of the mansion, with nothing to guide him but a flashlight.

He hoped that they had done it, banished Glory and survived. Barring that, he hoped they had just made it out alive. Faith didn't show another passage to Dawn. In order for Glory to be banished, a Slayer's life must be relinquished. Wesley had protested. He argued. He pleaded. He was met with the same answer each time. She had to do it. It was for everyone's good.

The doppelganger that had taken Faith's place in jail would make it look as though she died in her sleep and be released. Glory would be gone and Dawn would no longer be in danger from her. Buffy's children didn't have to lose their mother. Most importantly, a new Slayer would be called, one that he could be proud of and that could really help Buffy.

Wesley only kept his contrary look and wished her luck. He would see her later that night he called after them as they left Giles' house.

Now in the darkened hallways, he heard nothing. Nothing at all. They had either defeated Glory and gotten out or defeated Glory and died in the process. He trained his flashlight around in front of him and saw a door that was open. He walked towards it and as he entered, he heard the muffled sobs of a child.

Light illuminated the room as he moved through it, where it came from he didn't know and didn't care. Dawn was crouched over Faith and crying. Seeing Wesley, she got up and threw her arms around him and continued to weep. He held her and looked over her shoulder at Faith. Her head and neck were at impossible angles, but on her face was a beautiful smile. Wesley turned from her, making a note to begin funeral arrangements, and guided Dawn out of the room.

Once outside, they climbed on his motorcycle and headed towards the hospital.

June 10, 3:30 a.m. Outside Sunnydale Hospital

Angel had walked around the entire perimeter of the hospital at least twice and finally found Spike by the orange glow of the end of his cigarette. The sky was beginning to take on the pre dawn violets and reds as the earth spun to greet the sun once again.

"You love her, don't you," It was more a statement than a question as Angel moved into Spike's sight.

Spike exhaled and looked at Angel. Placing the cigarette in lips, he readjusted the collar of his long coat and took the cigarette out again. "What's it to you?"

"What about Buffy? How does she feel?"

Spike placed the still lit cigarette filter end first between the black nails of his thumb and forefinger and watched as it sailed across the parking lot with a high arc. He looked down again and said, "I don't know."

Angel recalled the many times he had told Buffy to find someone who could love her back, show her how much he loved her. But Spike? How could he love her? He didn't even have a soul.

Angel looked back to the early days. Back when Spike was newly reborn. Wasn't it he who felt things the most? The most exhilarated, the most thrilled, the most everything when they, the four of them had gone out and killed. As Drusilla's health had declined, wasn't it Spike who had orchestrated everything, just so she wouldn't die? Never mind that she was mad as a hatter, he still loved her. It was Spike who had been with Buffy all this time when he wished he could have been with her. Spike who had been her ally, her protector. Guilt rushed over Angel and was replaced with resolve.

Angel turned to leave. "Take good care of her for me, Spike. I'll be back."

As he walked away, again, he wished fervently for the end of the world to come sooner.

June 10, 4 a.m., Sunnydale Hospital

Buffy had her hand in the crook of Spike's arm as she walked over to the baby room. She couldn't walk just yet on her own, but no one else needed to know that. Everyone was staring through the window at the twins. Buffy saw her sister there and gave her a hug. Xander moved aside and pushed Buffy to the front so she, too, could see. They were placed in the same glass crib where they slept curled around each other

Angela Faith Conover William Ken Conover  
5 lb 3 oz 5lb 2 oz  
Mother: Elizabeth Anne Summers Father: Liam Angel Conover

Buffy looked around and didn't see who she was looking for. Spike held her shoulders and turned her away from the children. "He left, love."

Buffy's face twisted angrily and she collapsed against Spike's chest and began to cry. He pulled her close and when everyone turned to see what was going on, he just closed his eyes and held her.

June 10, 4:30 a.m., Outside the Delivery Room

The two English gentleman leaned against the wall, the night at last behind them, facing each other. Over Wesley's shoulder, he could see Xander, Anya, Tara and Willow still staring through the glass at the children who were not to be, but were. Joyce was leading Dawn away and at the far end of the hallway, Spike held Buffy. He smiled, despite his dislike of the vampire.

"Faith's dead." Wesley said flatly.

"What? How?" Giles stammered.

"Glory. She took Dawn to go fight Glory. They won, Glory has been banished, but Faith fulfilled her part. She's dead. Dawn doesn't remember very much, but she's still in shock."

"Wesley, Buffy died in the delivery room. The doctors revived her, but you know what this means." Giles said grimly.

Wesley nodded and spoke. "Two slayers have been called."

They looked at each other gravely and sipped their tea from the paper cups in silence.

June 10, 7 a.m., Sunnydale Hospital

Buffy had cried herself out and went back to her room with Spike's help. He had been watching her sleep for almost two hours. Before dawn arrived, he closed the divider in her room. She was on the side without a window. Even as she slept peacefully, he couldn't forget the anguish on her face as he told her that Angel had left her yet again. She had choked out the words before she fell asleep, that she knew that it was for the best, that he told her to move on, that they couldn't be together.

Spike resisted the urge to make the wall look like Swiss cheese when she finally fell asleep and sat by her bed. People came and went. They weren't important right now. Her friends had come to say goodbye for now, that they would be back later. He nodded and they left too.

Her eyes fluttered open, darted over to the clock on the wall on the other side of the room and turned to see who was with her. "Spike," she said with a smile. "What would I do without you?"

He smiled at her and said lightly, "I don't know, love. Shrivel up and die?"

Buffy smiled ruefully and said. "Faith's gone."

Spike pulled her into an embrace, which she returned, thankfully. "Shhh…love. I know. Giles told me everything before."

He pulled away from her and just stared deeply into her eyes. She ran her hand down the right side of his face from the scar on his eyebrow down to his chin and thought about what Faith had told her. She remembered the end of the prophesy. He closed his eyes as he felt her warm touch. "Buffy -"

"Shhh. I know." She used her hand that was still on his face to pull him closer to her and her other hand on the bed to push herself up.

Their lips met. It was so different from each of their dreams. It wasn't fire and passion as Spike had imagined. It wasn't the romantic hero like Buffy had imagined. It was something, like everything else, that couldn't be explained and wouldn't be discussed. It was like coming home at last.

Later that week

The priest closed the book. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. May you rest in peace, child." He turned to go. It was late and it had begun to rain.

The casket was lowered into the ground of one of Sunnydale's many cemeteries. Buffy knelt down at the edge of the grave and threw in a dark red rose. "Goodbye, Faith. Thank you."

Flowers surrounded the open grave. As soon as the undertaker filled the space with dirt, they would be placed on top. The biggest bunch had been from Angel, with smaller bunches from the others. The only ones who attended the service were Buffy, Spike, Giles and Wesley. Her family and the gang had stayed back at home to take care of William and Angela. Angel remained in LA.

Buffy turned in on Spike in grief. He looked at the Watchers and they all turned in the opposite direction the priest had taken. Time to go home.

Epilogue

The two vampires crouched over the holy man and laughed as they fed. He had been leaving the cemetery when they found him. One had swung a metal bar and the back of the priest's head caved in. Amazingly, he was still alive, and prayed out loud the entire time they were dragging him behind a mausoleum.

They laughed again as the priest finally died. Each of them looked at the other in warning and stood to turn and fight when they each collapsed into a pile of brown ash.

The girls in their identical silk dusters stood over the dead man and slapped hands in congratulations.

The woman stepped out from the shadows and looked at the two of them. Never before in the histories have there ever been three slayers at once. To have two be identical twins was unreal.

"Very good girls, but don't celebrate yet." The Watcher called to them.


End file.
